Tag: Accident

South Korean rescuers and dive teams worked frantically under floodlights as fears rose for nearly 300 people missing after a ferry sank Wednesday with 462 on board, mostly high school students bound for a holiday island.

New details are emerging Monday after a plane crash killed at least 153 people in Nigeria over the weekend. All passengers aboard the Dana Air plane were killed, but rescue officials are concerned that more deaths will be reported on the ground.

After learning that tourist deaths in Yosemite National Park increased this season compared with a typical year, Mother Jones reporter Kiera Butler asks whether the events that are rearranging the Earth’s climate might be the culprit. (more)

President Barack Obama has demanded an investigation into the deaths of 29 miners after an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine brought new and widespread attention to hazards in the mining industry.

Days after the luge accident that killed a Georgian Olympian, we still can’t shake the disturbing images and sound of his body flying off the track at 90 mph and striking a steel pole. That trauma was delivered in full high definition by the three major networks, which all reached the same appalling decision to air the footage. (continued)

An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 passengers and crew crashed off the coast of Lebanon on Monday. The aircraft, which took off in a severe storm, was seen on fire before it went down. The cause of the crash is officially unknown, but Lebanese officials discounted the possibility of sabotage.

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, after enduring a great deal of hardship on the long road to his current position of sharing power with President Robert Mugabe, was injured and his wife of 31 years was killed in a car accident that occurred Friday when they were on their way to their home outside Harare.

Be it a political gamble or a mix-up of epic proportions, Hamas is being accused of stealing humanitarian aid from U.N. trucks in the Gaza Strip. Due to the thefts, officials say, aid has stopped flowing into the battle-torn territory, where half the population depends on the U.N. shipments for food.

A well-known Colombian tailor is using Dick Cheney’s famous hunting mishap—when Cheney accidentally shot his friend in the face—as inspiration for a new line of bulletproof hunting apparel. The accompanying video shows one of the bulletproof jackets in action.

A Russian navy submarine propelled by nuclear power was heading back to port during a test run in the Sea of Japan when the fire-extinguishing system was accidentally activated near the sub’s bow, killing over 20 people and injuring at least 21 others aboard.

The Brits are in on the American election speculation game, judging by this Daily Mail article about John McCain’s first wife, Carol, which, despite reporter Sharon Churcher’s “tsk-tsk” tone about McCain’s possible philandering and his eventual wife-swap (enter Cindy, beer heiress, pictured), also allows that Carol McCain still cares about her ex-husband and supports him in his political ventures.

An inquest jury in Britain has officially concluded that Princess Diana and her companion, Dodi Al Fayed, were killed in a 1997 car crash in Paris as a result of “gross negligence manslaughter” by their chauffeur, Henri Paul, and the paparazzi.

More than 3,000 South African gold miners are trapped 1.4 miles beneath the surface of the Earth. The company that owns the mine said that its workers will be able to breathe, but South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said it is extremely concerned for those who are trapped. Update: All of the workers have been rescued.

Italian prosecutors want U.S. Marine Mario Lozano to stand trial for the death of Nicola Calipari, a 51-year-old Italian intelligence agent who was killed at a U.S. roadblock in Iraq. Calipari was escorting an Italian journalist who had been released by kidnappers. A report published by Italy last year conflicts with the U.S. version of events and, according to the BBC, cited “the troops’ stress and inexperience.”

The Associated Press (not exactly an ultra-liberal organization) says the account of the vice president’s hunting accident is full of inconsistencies.
Newsday points out that the medical diagram in Cheney’s accident report is incorrect.

The traditional media and the blogosphere are abuzz with questions about the drinking Cheney did before hunting; whether his medications, combined with alcohol, may have played a role; and whether this explains why he didn’t alert the media for so long about the accident (i.e., did he need the time to get the intoxicants out of his system?).
Some of the best writing on the topic:

When the vice president accidentally shot 78-year-old Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting trip after drinking a beer, and then delayed telling the world about it for 14 hours, he refocused the nation’s attention on troubling questions of official secrecy (and Dick Cheney’s aim). Truthdig has all the videos, articles and documents you need to answer the questions for yourself.

In a gesture admirable in its sentiment but inexcusable in its belatedness, the vice president tells Fox News that he alone is to blame for the accident. He called it “one of the worst days of my life.” (video or story)
He does not, however, apologize for having a private citizen break the news to the world—almost 24 hours late.

Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident, has a birdshot pellet in his heart and had “a minor heart attack” Tuesday morning. He is back in intensive care. | story

The ER chief at the Texas hospital, asked if the birdshot could endanger Whittington’s life, responded: “When birdshot is in your body, there’s always the risk they can move. We’ll watch very closely for any migration.”